What does family onion look like and how to grow it?

Many vegetable growers ignore the planting of family onions, but this is the culture that will help to rationally use the land and always provide vitamins in the form of herbs or a healthy vegetable. This variety of onions has many advantages, and knowledge of the rules for planting and caring for it will allow gardeners to change their attitude towards the family onion.

From the article, you will learn how and when to plant this multi-primordial type of vegetable, which varieties are best grown to obtain feathers, and which ones give larger bulbs. Why they call the onion family, how to care for plantings and how to store the crop.

The family bow gets its name from the fact that it forms a head in the form of a nest with several small onions. In one such nest, depending on the variety and growing conditions, there can be from 3 to 12 onions, and such a head can weigh in the range of 150-250 g. Such onion heads can be of various shapes - they are not always round, oval or oblong, but also cuboid options. Also, depending on the varietal characteristics, the family onion is covered with thin husks of various shades - from golden scales to purple-pink. The reddish family bow is very common.

The pulp also differs in color (white, pinkish), but it always has a juicy and delicate structure. This type of onion gives very thin juicy greens that do not coarse for a long time and has a pungent taste, and the feather can grow up to half a meter in height. The advantages of the variety include:

• high productivity;
• fast maturity (from 50 days);
• lack of shooting;
• long shelf life (until spring at least, maximum - 1 year);
• disease resistance;
• undemanding to growing conditions and care.

Each type of family onion has its own characteristics. Let's consider the best varieties and the most popular ones.

• "Monastyrsky" onions are classified as early varieties. It is believed that his homeland is the Kostroma province. It grows in a round-elongated shape, weighing up to 70 g with 8 bulbs in the nest. This is a slightly spicy onion with a pinkish husk and white-pink flesh.
• Variety "Ryzhik" medium late ripening. Produces oblong bulbs (up to 10 per head, weighing 55-70 g) with white pulp and bright golden husk. The taste is spicy.
• "Old Believer" variety of selection of the Vologda region. Produces fruits of an oblong shape, pungent in taste. The color of the scales is copper-yellow, there are at least 10 onions in the nest, weighing up to 80 g.
• The Pesandor variety is distinguished by a large number of heads - up to 20 pieces. Bulbs with purple pulp and mild taste.
• "Grant" is a giant variety with 12 onions in the head, which have a pungent taste and juicy flesh. The weight of one fruit is 200 g. It is also good for growing on greens.
• "Knyazhich" is also a rather large bow, forming up to 10 onions that have a pleasant taste and are distinguished by their juiciness.
• The red family onion "Prometheus" has snow-white flesh inside. It is a mild variety with a mild flavor. The round fruit consists of at least 8 bulbs.
• The early maturing variety "Albik" is intended more for the feather. Produces small round-flat bulbs with yellow scales.
• "Velikoustyugsky" the bow gives quite large heads (up to 10 pieces) with a rather spicy aftertaste.
• The Kvochka variety produces large fruits of different colors, including blue ones. It is actively used in cooking for salads and other dishes.

Preparation for planting family onions, like other crops, is carried out in advance. It is advisable to decide in the fall where the "families" will be planted in order to start preparing the site before the onset of frost.

The family bow loves air, sun and moisture, respectively, you need to choose well-ventilated areas located on the sunny side. This vegetable crop is not so whimsical, but it is still better to choose a place with loose soil.

The uniform structure of the soil will allow the seed to "breathe" better, which will germinate better in a loose base. It is possible to artificially create such conditions by loosening the earth, but it is optimal to immediately choose such a structure, because the clogged soil will still be compacted over time after loosening.

From autumn, it is desirable to enrich the soil with nutrients, especially when it comes to poor soils. Humus or compost is added to the ground at the rate of 5 kg per 1 square meter, urea and wood ash. All this is done in the autumn, and with the onset of spring heat, the beds are fertilized with nitrogen-containing compounds.

To add looseness to clay soil, it is diluted with a coarse sandy mixture. Family onions will do well on acid-neutral soils. To reduce the acidity level, dolomite flour or slaked lime is added to the ground.

To obtain an excellent harvest of family onions, it is necessary to observe the seeding time and process the seedlings. The planting material is cleaned of dry scales and soaked in a solution of copper sulfate (for 10 liters of water 1 tbsp. L. Vitriol). The bulbs are kept for at least 20 minutes. Then the seedlings are "bathed" in a solution with complex fertilizers, after removing the dry heel (cut to white scales). The bulbs are left in a cool place before planting to germinate the roots.

The nest must be “uncovered”, if you put the whole head of the “family”, you will get a trifle. You can cut the head in the middle and plant in halves, but not with a whole onion. Onion planting of a family variety, planted with seeds, is practiced. They are also pretreated for hardening, feeding with nutrient solutions and germination.

The multi-bud type of onion can be planted both before winter (in October) and in early spring. It is better to cover spring plantings with special materials and remove them after the first shoots appear, and winter beds are protected with a peat layer or mulch in the form of humus. The landing time of the "family" depends on the region and climatic features of the area. In the spring, it is not necessary to wait for warmth: it is enough for the earth to warm up to +5 degrees, and you can start work. As a rule, at this time during the day the thermometer already shows + 10 ° С, and at night the temperature is still -2 ° С.

Changes in temperature "family" are not terrible, the vegetable will slowly, but will grow. It is not necessary to plant family onions too early in the spring - it is still undesirable for frosts to touch the plantings, but even if you are late, the plants will start up arrows. It is correct to plant family onions in the grooves in the beds, many choose a scheme for planting the bulbs in a checkerboard pattern. If you grow varieties per head, then the distance between the onions must be kept at least 25 cm. If the onions go more for the feather, then it is enough to leave about 15 cm apart. The sevok is deepened into the ground by 6-8 cm.If this distance is not observed, the roots may dry out.

Growing family onions outdoors is not such a difficult task. Even a novice gardener can cope with it, it is enough just to properly care for the plantings. Most often this culture is planted for greenery - the presence of many onions in the nest gives a chic feather, but rather large onion heads can be grown. For this, first of all, watering is needed. Let's consider all the nuances of caring for family onions in more detail.

As soon as the seedlings have risen to a height of 8 cm, you can begin to water them. This is done no more than once a week. To moisten the onion plantations of the family breed, at least 15-20 liters of water are poured into every square meter of land. It is better to use rainwater or, in extreme cases, settled water, but not immediately from the water supply. For 3-5 days, ordinary water is insisted and then they are allowed to water the family onions. Before watering, it is advisable that the water warms up in the sun, cold moisture can cause disease in plants.

If, with sufficient watering, the greens begin to turn yellow, there is no need to increase the amount of water - this does not happen from a lack of moisture, but from a lack of minerals. It is enough to sprinkle the beds with ash or add ammonium nitrate, and the problem will disappear.

The cultivation process can be simplified if the onion plantings are mulched in a timely manner. In addition to saving on watering, mulch can help prevent the growth of weeds. And the vegetable itself grows better when moisture remains in the ground and the top layer is not covered with a crust.

Immediately after watering or after rain, mulch your family onion beds using the tops of other crops, just grass. It is good when there is a straw base, hay or sawdust. Suitable for mulching and coniferous "blanket".

Special fertilization is not required if the soil is prepared in advance according to all the above rules. But still, you may have to feed in the suburbs and other regions if you notice yellowed feathers or wilting of green mass. This can happen for various reasons, and in order to restore onion plantings, you will need potassium salt and ammonium nitrate. 15 g and 10 g, respectively, of the indicated compositions must be diluted in 10 liters of water. This solution is poured over the family onion beds to heal the plants.

If you have your own chicken farm, then you can use the manure diluted with water in a ratio of 1:20. You can make a more concentrated solution by taking a ratio of 1:15, but still it is better not to risk it if the wilting is not significant, so as not to burn the greens even more.

Loosening is carried out the next day after watering the plantations or after rain. Under normal weather conditions, it is enough to loosen the onion beds 4-5 times. In dry weather, this procedure will have to be performed more often to prevent crust formation on the surface. In parallel with loosening, weeding can also be done.

When the goal is to get larger bulbs, nests are formed. This procedure begins in late June - early July. How does this happen:

• inspect the head, pushing the earth away from it on the sides;
• only 4-5 onions are left, the rest are carefully separated without damaging the main roots;
• the bulbs are sprinkled with earth.

"Family" is considered a vegetable resistant to diseases and pests, but still in an unfavorable environment it can become infected with a fungus. Sometimes harmful creatures infect the family bow. Here are several options for prevention, protection and treatment.

• If rot is found on the bulbs, it is most likely Fusarium. The first step is to stop watering, and the onions are treated with 1% copper sulfate, or copper oxychloride is taken instead of this solution.
• Tobacco dust and black ground pepper work well against pests (they simply sprinkle the beds with these compounds).
• A prophylactic solution is also made from 50 g of crushed laundry soap (72%), 5 g of copper sulfate - all this is diluted in 10 liters of water and the plants are sprayed.
• You can also water between rows with a solution of salt (200 g of salt in a large bucket of water).
• Water the beds themselves with coniferous-mint infusion. It is necessary to boil mint leaves and pine needles, insist and water.
• Carrots and marigolds planted near family onions will scare away pests.

You need to harvest family onions closer to August - it is by this period that it fully ripens: the leaves wither, the stem dries up, the plant lies on the ground. The heads at this point are completely “dressed” in scales. Harvest is desirable in warm weather. It is better to leave the heads in the garden until they are completely dry. If the weather is not favorable for this process, take the crop under an overhanging shelter. Leave the plants for 10 days to air and dry, turning them periodically.

Before storage, you need to cut the roots, remove dry leaves. You can store at home in different ways: in boxes and lower them into the basement, you can braid the bulbs and hang onion braids in a cool dry room. The good old way of storing onions in stockings is still relevant today. The family bow can be perfectly stored in the closet in the apartment, in drawers in the kitchen or in the cellar. If the temperature in the room is + 18-22 ° C with a humidity of at least 60%, these are ideal conditions for storing family onions.

For a basement, this is a temperature from 0 to +4 degrees with a maximum humidity of 85%. The bulbs are placed in wooden or plastic boxes filled with sand or sawdust. And for better air exchange, small holes are drilled in the container. When stored properly, this vegetable will provide you with vitamins for a long time. By the way, it can be stored for 12 months, while retaining all the useful qualities. And having planted a family onion in the fall, you can already collect the feather in early spring.